The Boyfriend Bet (Boyfriend Chronicles #2)

by Chris Cannon

  “That’s awesome,” Delia said.

  “If Aiden is a follower, maybe he’ll ask you to date, too.”

  Delia rolled her eyes. “If the boy wants to ask me out, he better man up and do it. Otherwise he’s being friend-zoned.”

  “Really?” I was surprised to hear this.

  She nodded. “Now that Grant has figured out what he wants, I expect Aiden to do the same.

  Chapter Eleven

  Zoe

  Grant and Aiden found Delia and me in the quad before classes started Monday morning.

  “Hey.” I smiled at him. “How was the Doctor Who marathon?”

  “Good. How was the rest of your weekend?”

  “Delia and I baked and went to the Art of Tea.”

  “So sorry I missed the looms.”

  “We could always make plans to go there after school,” I teased.

  “I’m sure you have to make special reservations for the looms. People are probably lined up waiting for a spot to open.”

  “Happily, the crochet corner has an open door policy. No reservations needed.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my brother glaring in my direction. I knew it wouldn’t take long for him to hear about Grant and I being more than friends, but I thought I might have a slight grace period before the lectures started.

  “Want me to go tell him I’m not trying to make you the Ringer?” Grant asked.

  “That has bad idea written all over it.” My brother’s temper matched my own. It was best to let him get over the initial boil of anger and talk to him when he’d settled down to a low simmer.

  My brother wasn’t the only person giving us sideways glances. Lena came toward us with an odd smile on her face. She must have had a makeover because she’d gone from princess perfect ponytail to a girl who looked like she could star in a music video.

  “Grant, I lost an earring at your house yesterday, would you look around and see if you can find it?”

  Funny. He hadn’t mentioned that Lena had been at his house yesterday.

  “Sure. What’s it look like?”

  “Actually, it’s one of the gold and silver hoops you gave me for Christmas last year.”

  “Right. I’ll let you know if it turns up.”

  “Thanks.” She walked off like all eyes were upon her. And most of them were, although I was probably the only one glaring daggers at her.

  Grant cleared his throat. “That was awkward.”

  “She probably left the earring at your place on purpose.”

  “Really?”

  I nodded. “It gave her a reason to talk to you.”

  “That’s weird.”

  A light bulb went off in my brain. “Was her visit the reason you came to see me?”

  “What? I didn’t come to see you.”

  “Please. I’d bet my house and Betty’s Burgers are the only two places you’ve been to that far off the highway.”

  “Maybe.”

  I bumped him with my hip. “You ran away from her and toward me. I’m flattered.”

  The bell for class rang, and he walked me to first hour. Once I was seated, I braced myself for an attack from Lena that never came. Maybe she had finally moved on.

  On the drive home from school Jack started in on me again.

  “Zoe, what the hell are you doing with Grant?”

  “We’re dating. It’s not a big deal.”

  “You’re smarter than this. Can’t you see what he’s doing?” He smacked the steering wheel. “You’re going to be the biggest joke at school.”

  “He’s not trying to make me the Ringer.” I believed this. Why couldn’t my brother?

  “Think about this whole situation logically. Why else would he date you?”

  His words were like a punch in the gut. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m being honest. He can have any girl he wants. Why would he choose you?”

  I blinked back angry tears. “Why wouldn’t he choose me? I’m cute. I’m funny.”

  “Yeah, you are, but you’re not anything special,” he stated like it was obvious.

  I gasped for breath. It felt like a ten-ton weight sat on my chest. “I can’t believe you said that to me. You’re my brother. You’re supposed to have my back.”

  “I’m trying to protect you. What’s more likely? Him making you the Ringer to get back at me, or him thinking you’re the hottest girl at Wilton?”

  “Go to hell.” I had no delusions that I was the hottest girl at school, or the smartest, or the prettiest, but that didn’t mean Grant didn’t like me. One thing for sure, I was done with Jack.

  Turning away from him, I stared out the passenger window. No matter what it took, tomorrow I would find a way to school which didn’t involve my brother.

  When he pulled into the driveway, I practically ran from the car and pounded up the front steps. My grandmother looked up from the stove where she was cooking. “What’s wrong?”

  Jack slammed the door as he entered the house. “Zoe, I know you think I’m being a dick, but I’m trying to protect you.”

  “I’m not talking to you.” I dropped my backpack on the kitchen chair and poured myself a glass of milk.

  My grandmother turned the burner on low. “Jack, what did you do?”

  Before he could get a word out I paraphrased his unbelievably rude comments.

  “Jack Cain, no wonder your sister is upset. I know you have a past with this young man, but that’s all it is—a past. You two boys probably butt heads because you’re too much alike. And don’t you ever tell your sister she isn’t special. While the women in our family have never been super models, we are a smart, good-looking bunch.”

  Jack shook his head. “I swear Zoe, it’s like you’re standing on the train tracks and I can see the engine coming yet you refuse to acknowledge it.”

  “No matter how badly he worded it, your brother is trying to look out for you,” my grandmother said.

  “And it’s not like there’s anyone else around to do it,” Jack said, his voice dropping as he spoke.

  And guilt rained down on my head. “Is that why you’re doing this…because Dad isn’t here?”

  Jack shrugged. “It’s my job to look out for you. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

  I blinked back tears. “I get it, but try trusting me a little.”

  “And you’re not the only one looking out for her.” My grandmother walked over and hugged Jack. It was weird to see that he was taller than her now. She stepped away and held him at arm’s length. “And I do appreciate your effort, but give your sister some credit. She’s a smart girl.”

  He nodded and backed away from my grandmother, heading for his bedroom. My grandmother returned to the stove and slowly stirred the pot. “Your brother is probably just being over-protective, but keep in mind that you don’t know this Grant all that well. He could be a good guy, but even good teenage boys can be trouble.”

  …

  Since Jack had explained why he’d acted like such a jerk, I mostly forgave him. We settled on a we’ll-agree-to-disagree policy where we didn’t talk about Grant or the fact that I was dating him. That week, on the drive to and from school, we managed to avoid talking about dating, but Friday morning, Jack was too quiet. “Now you’re making me nervous. Say something. Just make sure it’s something nice.”

  “That’s the problem.” A bug splatted against the windshield. He turned on the wipers to clean it off. “There’s a ton of stuff I want to say, but all of it will tick you off, and you probably won’t believe me anyway.”

  I laughed. “Here I thought you might be ready to trust me.”

  “I trust you with a lot of things. Being around guys like Grant isn’t one of them. Why can’t you pick a normal guy?”

  As we pulled into the parking lot, I realized it was time to remind him of some key facts. “It’s your fault I kissed Grant in the first place. If you hadn’t tried to boss me around, I never would h
ave done it.”

  “I tried to warn you away from trouble and you dove in head first just to spite me.”

  I was beginning to wish he’d remained silent. “You didn’t try to warn me, you gave me an ultimatum. How did you think I’d react?”

  He pulled into a spot and parked. “Maybe I thought you’d be reasonable instead of acting like a brat throwing a tantrum.”

  “The only reason you don’t like Grant is because you’ve lost out to him in the past. He’s lost out to you, too. Why can’t you get over it?”

  “Do you remember, Katy, the girl I dated for about a month last year?”

  I nodded. “I liked her.”

  “So did I. On the nights I had to work, when she went out with her friends, she kept running into Grant. After a few weeks, she dumped me to date him.”

  Wait a minute. “I thought Grant was with Lena last year.”

  “He was. That didn’t stop him from dating Katy.”

  I couldn’t picture Grant as the type who’d cheat on his girlfriend. Even someone as annoying as Lena. “You know this how?”

  “One of Katy’s friends told me. Apparently, he’d hang out with Katy whenever Lena wasn’t available, but he never asked her on a real date. I’d bet money that he plans to do the exact same thing to you. He’ll spend time with you, but he’ll never ask you on a real date. So even if he isn’t trying to make you the Ringer, that’s how he’s going to treat you. Guaranteed.”

  He was out of the car before I could tell him he was wrong, because Grant planned to take me to the school dance. I wasn’t just someone to hang around with until someone better came along, I was sure of it.

  A tiny voice of doubt cropped up in my head. What if I was wrong? I hated that Jack made me doubt my own instincts and left me feeling insecure. Needing to bolster my confidence, I used the visor mirror to check my appearance. I looked a little pale. Some lip gloss should fix that. I grabbed the cherry gloss from by backpack and dabbed it on my lips.

  Knock knock knock.

  Startled, I jerked the lip gloss across my cheek.

  Male laughter had me pushing the door open ready for a fight.

  Grant’s eyebrows went up. “You can’t be mad about lip gloss.”

  I used the back of my hand to wipe the pink goo off my cheek. “No. I was mad at Jack before you startled me.”

  “Sorry.” He reached out and rubbed his thumb near the corner of my mouth. “Missed a spot.”

  “Thanks.” I gave a fake grin. “All better?”

  “Yes.” He glanced in the direction my brother had gone. “What did your brother do now?”

  “You know what? It doesn’t matter. My next priority is to find Delia because she should have a cup of coffee waiting for me.”

  Grant made a face like he smelled rotten eggs. “I don’t know how you guys drink that stuff.”

  “You don’t like coffee?” I placed a hand over my heart. “That’s it. My image of you as the ideal male is shattered.”

  He shook his head. “Coffee breath is bad. Kissing someone with coffee breath is worse.”

  And suddenly I knew how I could turn my day around and prove to myself that Grant cared. Moving in close, I played with his tie. “Maybe you should kiss me before I drink any.”

  I smiled up at him, expecting him to lean down and kiss me, but he just stood there. He didn’t lean down. He didn’t even react. He acted like I wasn’t there. Ouch. My face heated. Tears stung my eyes. I dropped his tie and stumbled back a step.

  Keeping my eyes on the ground, I dodged around him and headed toward the quad. I needed Delia, now.

  “Zoe, wait,” Grant called after me.

  Not going to happen. There’s only so much rejection a girl can take before eight a.m., and I’d had my quota. Speeding up, I made a beeline toward the area where Delia and I usually hung out. And my rotten luck continued. No pink hair in sight. I scanned the quad and came up empty. Where was she?

  “You walk fast for a short person.” Grant’s voice came from behind me.

  “Thanks for pointing that out.” I didn’t turn around, because making eye contact with Grant right now could be fatal. If he looked at me with disinterest, or worse, pity, the tears I’d held back were going to make a break for it. “Can you see Delia anywhere?”

  “No. Zoe…turn around.”

  “Sorry. My grandma says bad things come in threes. And I’d prefer that number three not come from you.” And with that, I headed for the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee. With every step, I replayed the scene in the parking lot. We’d been talking. He’d acted like he cared about why I was upset. He touched my face. He could’ve said, “Hey, moron, you have lip gloss on your cheek.” But he hadn’t. So why didn’t he want to kiss me? Did he not want to kiss me at all anymore? That would suck.

  “Earth to Zoe.” Delia appeared by my side carrying two cups of coffee. “Geez, what were you thinking about?”

  “Coffee.” I took the cup she offered and swallowed half of it in one gulp.

  “Right. That’s why you look like you’re going to snap and kill someone.”

  Grabbing her arm I dragged her over to a less crowded area and gave her a rundown of my morning’s humiliation.

  “Wow. Jack is more of a tool than I realized, and Grant is a dumb ass.”

  “That about sums it up.”

  “As your grandma would say, watch out for number three.”

  “Exactly.”

  …

  First hour passed by without Lena making a single comment. She wore a strange smile, which in my emotionally heightened state made me wonder what she was plotting and simultaneously made me want to punch her in the nose. When class ended, she said, “Smile. You’re going to be famous.”

  “What?”

  She laughed and walked away.

  My stomach plummeted to my feet. I knew without a doubt that an amused Lena meant bad things for me.

  “Crap.” I heard Delia mutter. My classmates were laughing about something on their phones.

  “Follow me,” Delia said. “And act like nothing is wrong.”

  And that meant something was very, very wrong. My heart rate sped up and my palms began to sweat. Knowing Delia would help, I followed her to the girls’ bathroom. On the way, everyone seemed to whisper and point at me. What the hell?

  Once we were locked in a bathroom stall, Delia handed me her phone, open to YouTube. “I’m sorry. Number three just hit.”

  On the screen, my epic fail played for all to see. I was smiling up at Grant, expecting him to kiss me and he totally blows me off. He was acting like he didn’t even know or care that I was standing there. There I was, for all to see, stumbling away, with my face bright red.

  No. No. No. No. No. I shoved the phone back at Delia. This could not be happening. Prickly heat broke out on my skin. Cold sweat coated my forehead. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Puking in the stall at school where everyone would hear about it ten seconds after it happened was not an option.

  “I’d bet a million bucks Lena posted it,” Delia said.

  “What am I going to do? Everyone’s going to see it.”

  “I think they’ve already seen it. It’s not that bad.” Delia shoved the phone back in her pocket. “Besides, I’m sure Grant will hunt you down to diffuse the situation, because he knows you aren’t a suffer-in-silence kind of girl. Maybe you could use this to your advantage.”

  I didn’t know what she meant, and I didn’t have time to figure it out. We barely made it to our next class on time. People stared; I gritted my teeth, and gave everyone my best I-don’t-give-a-shit-what-you-think smile.

  My jaw ached by the time lunch rolled around. I wasn’t sure if I could eat. A large bowl of ice cream might work. People stared and whispered as Delia and I entered the cafeteria. Pride kept my head up and my shoulders back. I would not cower. I might get sick to my stomach and break out in a cold sweat—check and check—but I would not run and hide.

  I sp
otted Lena sitting at a table surrounded by other girls, laughing and talking. My hands curled into fists. “How many detentions would I get for punching someone in the face?”

  “As much as I’d love to find out, we’re not going to play that way.” Delia led me over to a table in the center of the room.

  “Why are we sitting here?” I didn’t want to be on display like this.

  “To show people you don’t care.” Delia set her back pack down. “I’m starving today.”

  What was up with the loud voice?

  “Your turn.” She laughed, like she’d made a joke. “Act like nothing’s wrong and it will drive Lena crazy.”

  As plans went, this one pretty much sucked but it wasn’t like I had any better ideas. So, I smiled and laughed as we walked up to the buffet. Once we were in line, I said, “Hey, look, they have chicken tenders today.”

  “Yum.” Delia loaded up her plate.

  I could feel everyone staring at me. My face heated, but I kept up the act. “What sounds really good right now, is the lemon meringue pie from Betty’s.”

  Delia made a sound that was borderline obscene, causing several guys at the buffet to turn and stare. “What? The lemon meringue pie at Betty’s is awesome.”

  And now I was laughing for real. If I made it through this day, I would buy Delia her own pie, for being the best friend ever.

  Back at the table, I ate chicken tenders without tasting them, and kept up the fake conversation with Delia.

  When there was ten minutes of lunch left, I said, “Notice who’s not eating lunch here today?”

  “No Grant, and no Aiden. Makes you wonder what they’re up to.”

  “Exactly.” Where were they? Shouldn’t Grant be worried about how I was dealing with all this crap?

  “It’s kind of cowardly,” Delia said, “leaving you to deal with this alone.”

  “Sad, but true. Maybe I’ll spill something on him in Foods class, or accidentally stab him with a knife.”

  And I might have stabbed him, given a chance, but he wasn’t in Foods class. Where the heck was he?

  Chapter Twelve

  Zoe

  Ms. Ida didn’t ask the class where Grant was, so she must have known he wasn’t coming. I made cinnamon streusel muffins by myself while compulsively checking the classroom door, waiting for the object of my affection to come in so I could rip his head off. No such luck.